


Of Fathers and Daughters not Quite their Own

by Zappy



Series: Mila Verse [16]
Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-17
Updated: 2017-06-17
Packaged: 2018-11-15 05:04:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11223897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zappy/pseuds/Zappy
Summary: Tekeny is brought aboard the Defiant and discovers something about his daughter's life that is even more shocking than her not being his daughter.





	Of Fathers and Daughters not Quite their Own

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place during Second Skin because I absolutely needed Tekeny to be part of Mila's life.

He’d lost his world before. Long before this day, he’d lost it the moment his Iliana had gone on her first mission, the deep cover assignment he wished she’d never volunteered for. Tekeny had been living his life trying to make the world he did have a better place, a place that wouldn’t have needed to steal his girl away. It’s why he became so passionate about the Dissident movement. If he, a Legate of many years in Central Command, could have everything he held dear taken from him so easily, surely the rest of Cardassia was equally suffering. **  
**

Even if in his heart he knew Iliana wouldn’t have understood that, was too convinced in her Obsidian Order training to ever thank him should he see her again, he knew it was right, what he was meant to do. Regardless of what it might mean for him. It was for Cardassia as a whole, because without family, what were they?

It was with that in mind that he realized it wouldn’t matter what the doctors said when they reached the station. Kira Nerys or Iliana Ghemor, Tekeny cared for this young woman whether she was his or not. He wondered if by losing his world so many times, once a decade before only to get it returned to him days ago and then have it vanish twice over, could turn even the most sane Cardassian mad. He wondered if he cared about the answer or not.

The silence of the Defiant’s corridor was broken when Nerys-Iliana turned to the only other confirmed Cardassian on the ship as they headed towards the bridge. The man Tekeny had not taken his eyes off of except to check over his maybe-daughter the entire time. “Why did you kill Entak for me, Garak?”

“Well, Mila would have been very upset if you’d died, Major.” Garak replied with a smile that was bordering on a smirk. It made Tekeny’s glare narrow further, the agent he’d only known as Regnar was far too friendly to his perhaps-daughter. The thought that the man could have overseen part of her training like Entak had made his scales cold.

He couldn’t help but ask a question, the fact that it broke whatever moment was happening was a bonus, “Who’s Mila?”

Garak’s unsettling blue eyes turned to him in a flash, his smile-smirk still firmly in place. He and Nerys-Iliana spoke at the same moment.

“She’s my daughter.”

“She’s my niece.”

The words had him stop walking. Tekeny couldn’t help but gap at them both, hoping for a brief moment his age had caused his hearing to be impaired. “I’m sorry?”

Nerys-Iliana rolled her eyes at Garak’s amused look. “She’s not _really_ my niece, she’s a little seven year old girl I’ve sort of…taken under my wing so to speak, so she calls me Auntie.”

Garak turned to her with a sarcastic frown, “Now _Major Kira_ , she’s as much your niece as she is my daughter.”

The taunting sneer she threw back at him did little to reassure Tekeny. “She’s only your daughter on paper, Garak.”

“Ah, but she views me as a father, just as she views you as her _aunt_. Is that not, what _really_ matters?” Garak asked with a tilt of his head and a smug look. Before she could reply, he turned on his heel and continued walking towards the bridge.

When Nerys-Iliana turned back to him and saw him still mouth agape, she offered him a smile. “Come on, I’ll show you the guest quarters, I don’t think either of us have slept much the past three days.”

“I do think a bit of rest would do some good. How long before we arrive?” Tekeny agreed, wondering if he’d able to fall asleep even if they had days, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to waste even a moment of time when he could be with his daughter. His maybe-daughter.

“Only eight more hours, barring any trouble we might meet.” She replied with a mischievous smile, and oh- his heart ached. He couldn’t help but return a warm smile. He hadn’t smiled this much in _years_.

“Then perhaps I’ll take you up on your offer.”

She turned and motioned with an arm, “Right this way, Ghemor!”

What he wouldn’t _give_ to hear her call him yadik. _Father_ , even. _She still might_ , a painful shard of optimism whispered to him.

Perhaps he could settle for Tekeny.

~~

There was a small crowd of people at the docking bay, but with a station this large and near the famed stable wormhole, that wasn’t surprising. What did surprise him was the small orange blur detaching from that crowd and running to… _Garak_. The blur collided with his legs, forcing him to stop walking and that’s when Tekeny noticed it was a little girl. Ah, this must be Mila.

“ _Yadik_! You’re back, did you get Auntie Kira? Is she okay? Is she going to have to see Daddy?” She didn’t seem to stop for an answer let alone a breath between her questions and it brought a stab of pain into his heart. He remembered when Iliana was that small, that curious, that energetic. She always wanted to know everything about his day, and expressed worry when he was late or gone for long periods of time. What he wouldn’t give for those times again.

Seeing this reflection of it was agonizing.

Garak seemed about to answer one of her questions, when she looked past him and noticed Tekeny and his daughter, _of his heart if not physically_ he told himself. Even now he held that sliver of hope that it was her. It would crush him if he let it, but still his grip on that shard would not release until definitive proof otherwise. The little girl froze and seemed to be trying to hide behind Garak’s leg.

“Mila, dear, if you’d let me get a word in edgewise?” Garak asked in a tone that Tekeny hesitated to call fond, if only because of what he knew of the man and sincerely doubted _fondness_ was an emotion he could have.

The girl nodded, still staring at him and that’s when he noticed she was part Bajoran. Ah, that explained why she got close to Nerys-Iliana. Product of the Occupation, then. He wondered how in the world _Garak_ became involved in the girl’s life.

“I did indeed find Major Kira, she’s right here, although I fear you won’t recognize her until she sees our dear doctor.” Garak made a show of looking around them and into the crowd, “Speaking of, Mila, where _is_ your father?”

“We notified him before docking we’d be needing his services,” the Changeling put in while crossing his arms, “He should be here by now.”

“Here! I’m right here, I was dealing with a patient and- _Major?!_ ” a young man, with desert colored skin and wearing the blue uniform of a medic called as he approached them from the crowd. He was carrying a med-case and jolted to a stop when he saw Tekeny and Nerys-Iliana. Before Tekeny could blink, the man had set down the case and pulled out a tricorder and was scanning the major.

“Well I certainly see what you meant by ‘urgent but not fatal’, Constable. This is extraordinary, something in this scale-!” The doctor exclaimed as he continued to look at his readings. The major heaved a sigh of resignation that seemed to indicate this was a regular occurrence.

“Can you _fix me_ , Doctor?” She asked irritably, and it caused the young man’s mouth to snap shut and straighten his back.

“I won’t know for sure what’s been done to you until we get you to the infirmary, but on my estimation from just these readings, yes.” He looked down when he was knocked into from behind and Tekeny looked down as well. The girl was now attached to the doctor’s leg and looking up at them. “It’s alright stardust, it’s still Auntie Kira.”

Mila ventured from behind him and walked up to her. When she bent down to bring them to eye level and started to speak softly to the girl, Tekeny was struck by such a wave of warmth it almost made the cold air on this station unnoticeable. To distract himself, he brought his gaze back up just in time to see the doctor greet Garak.

With a hand on his upper arm. Tekeny was baffled.

“And how was _your_ trip to Cardassia, my dear? As eventful as you hoped?” the doctor asked with a flirtatious smile.

“Rather too much, actually. I won’t be complaining of boredom on this station again, let me tell you.” Garak returned with an empathic hand wave. The man’s expression turned from rueful to musing, “Though I do wish Mila could have joined me, if only to seen one Cardassian sunset.”

The doctor’s smile became strained, “Yes well, so long as _Gul Dukat_ is out there, that’s not likely to happen outside a holosuite.” Garak nodded but said nothing.

With a squeeze to the Cardassian’s arm, the young man let go and returned to where Mila and Nerys-Iliana were still talking. Mila looked up at him with a doleful expression of distress, “You’re going to fix what the Order did to Auntie Kira, right Daddy?”

The doctor put a hand on her head, “I’m going to do my utmost. Shall we, Major?”

“I’m beyond ready, Doctor Bashir.”

Nerys-Iliana looked to him before she left with the doctor, and he couldn’t help the way her smile at him squeezed his heart like a vice. Not wanting to let her see his pain, Tekeny gave her a smile instead. He was brought out from his staring after her by a soft voice. “Who are you?”

Tekeny looked down to the girl which connected his Nerys-Iliana’s life with Garak’s. She was rather adorable, and even her connection to the Obsidian Order agent couldn’t stop the welcoming smile he gave her. “I’m Iliana’s- …I’m Tekeny Ghemor. I believe you’re called Mila?” He had to stop himself, had to face the inevitable facts. He may be an old selfish fool, but he didn’t have to be a stupid one.

“Mila _Bashir._ ” She corrected with all the authority children possessed. His smile widened. And then died when an unwelcome voice broke in.

“Mila, my dear, I believe we’ve spoken about manners.” Garak stepped over, arms behind his back and posture more subservient than it had been while they’d been on Cardassia. Tekeny read _unthreatening-mild-inferior_ easily and knew it to be a lie. The man’s skill at lying, even in second-language was truly a gift. When Mila looked back at him, his posture shifted just enough to change the message to _superior-chastising-amused_.

The girl nodded and with adorable concentration, shifted how she’d been standing, which now that she changed it Tekeny noticed had been a mirror of the Changeling’s posture. Suddenly, with the clumsiness of children, she was saying _inferior-respectful-curious_. “How long are you going to be on the station, sir?”

Doing his best to ignore Garak and focus on the girl, Tekeny shifted into _superior-welcoming-amused_ and gave a smiled, if somewhat a bittersweet one. “For as long as…Major Kira needs me.”

“What did you do on Cardassia?” Was the next question, and while Mila’s voice was the same curious tone, her second-language said _inferior-suspicious-guarded_ , which was an odd mixture and one Tekeny had no doubt she learned from Garak. He could at least admire the girl’s desire to protect those she was close to.

“I’m a Legate, my dear. Part of the Central Command…though it’s lost its luster.” _Superior-unthreatening-regret_.

The little girl’s honey gaze stayed fixed on him as she thought about his answer. In his perifrial, Tekeny noticed Garak doing much the same. After another moment, she seemed satisfied and gave him a smile that showed her teeth. _Inferior-excited-welcoming_.

“So what is it you’d like to do, little one?” Tekeny couldn’t help but ask. _Superior-curious-welcoming_.

Mila dropped out of second-language as her excitement overflowed, her posture returned to what it had first been, the odd mirroring of the Changeling who went by Odo. “I’m going to serve justice!” She declared with a puffed out chest and a stern expression that was ruined by her smile. Tekeny didn’t think he’d seen many things more heart-warming in his long life.

Garak interrupted the moment with a small dramatic sigh, “Indeed, no bolts of fabric in your future. Though I do see a meal and then bed, how late have you been up, Mila?”

The girl crossed her arms defiantly, “Daddy and I were waiting for you and Auntie Kira to return safely.”

“Of course, and we’ve returned safe and sound. Now, come along, leave Legate Ghemor to his business.” Garak’s eyes shifted to him and held them, “I’m sure he has _many plans_ to be making.” _Superior-knowing-dangerous_. Then like it wasn’t even there, all Tekeny saw was _inferior-respectful-pleasant_.

“Yes, Yadik.” Mila nodded with a small disappointed sigh. Tekeny knew he was lost then, because he was sharply reminded if Iliana at that age so much it made him dizzy. He watched them go after Garak gave him a respectful nod with both wariness and longing.

It was decided then, even if he was starting to accepted Kira Nerys was not his daughter, he was going to request he be able to hold on to that connection anyway. He didn’t think he’d be able to stay together otherwise, without the anchor of family he’d be set adrift. He also wanted to make sure no one let down their guard around _that man_. He knew too much about the reputation Regnar had during his many many years serving the Obsidian Order to let anyone think they could turn their back on him. The small voice in his head that sounded like his daughter as he last heard her in person told him he was being bitter and envious. Tekeny told it he was just being cautious.

Tekeny only hoped Nerys was willing to listen.


End file.
